Yay for Government-Run Single-Payer Health Care... in Iraq.

Oh, and one more thing: we already helped give the Iraqis universal health care. Single-payer, government run, universal healthcare is enshrined in the Iraqi constitution.

"Many US lawmakers opposing health care reform need to be asked why it's OK for Iraqis but not Americans, Mark Dorlester writes for the Huffington Post. Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution—made possible by the war, and hailed as a victory by the Bush administration—guarantees every Iraqi state-funded health care, a provision Dorlester thinks would be slammed as out-of-control socialism by right-wingers if it applied to Americans." (Emphasis mine - Ed.)

Here's the link to Mark Dorlester's article. Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution reads:
"First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions.
Second: Individuals and entities have the right to build hospitals, clinics,or private health care centers under the supervision of the State, and this shall be regulated by law."
Lately, I've heard a lot of people sneer at the idea that health care is a human right (here, for just one example. Plenty more out there.) And we can debate whether or not health care is or should be considered a right for every single citizen of the U.S. Obviously I think it is a right, just like food (though I've heard people scoff at that too - but food IS a human right, as declared in the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, 1948)...

...but you should know that universal health care is already considered a right for every single Iraqi. And U.S. tax dollars and American soldiers' lives have helped provide the Iraqi citizens with single-payer coverage.